Answers for Daily #25

The starting word was

First moves

7 words are one letter away from HUSK.

DUSK: adjective Tending to darkness or blackness; moderately dark or black; dusky.
MUSK: noun A greasy secretion with a powerful odour, produced in a glandular sac of the male musk deer and used in the manufacture of perfumes.
RUSK: noun A rectangular, hard, dry biscuit.
TUSK: noun One of a pair of elongated pointed teeth (either cuspids or incisors) that extend outside the mouth of an animal such as walrus, elephant or wild boar, and which continue to grow…
HULK: noun A large ship used for transportation; a large ship that is difficult to manoeuvre.
HUNK: noun A large or dense piece of something.

Also: HUSH

HUSK → MUSK → MUSS → CUSS → CUSP

Once the words before it are used, nobody can change CUSP: a dead end, worth 3 extra points.

Every Daily hides one golden word a few moves from the start. This one was SILK.

From HUSK, 2,140 words can be reached one letter at a time.

4 players. Best: 38 words and 67 points. Average: 15 words.

Definitions from Wiktionary